


Love the Lewises (Lewis's?)

by athiker10



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Home for Christmas - Freeform, Mention of Bucky, Mention of Thor, Speculated PTSD, Tropes, holiday fic, no Confirmation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-13 23:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5720983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athiker10/pseuds/athiker10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis is going home for christmas, single and conquering the world, but her family really thinks she should have a boyfriend. The solution presents itself in an airport bar during a wait for a long delayed flight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Erica_T](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erica_T/gifts).



> This was written for the Steve/Darcy Christmas fic exchange and it has been so much fun! I"m not quite done with the second part but I'm so late that I thought I'd at least post the first half now and the second half when i'm done (hopefully this weekend).

“Darcy?” Jane poked her head out from the middle of one of the machines she’s elbows deep in.

“Yeah?” Darcy looks up from where she’s transcribing the data from Jane’s scribbles into an excel spreadsheet.

“Isn’t Christmas in two days?” Jane looks at her.

“Ye-es?” Darcy says.

“Aren’t you going to see your family this year?” Jane says. “I thought you told me with gusto all about your mom’s pumpkin pie?” Darcy stares at Jane for a moment. She forgets, when Jane gets all distracted that she notices a lot of what Darcy says.

“Yeah. I’m leaving tomorrow. Left you labelled spreadsheets and some food in the fridge like a good intern.” Darcy grins.

“You’re my _assistant_ , now,” Jane points out.

“Still for free!” Darcy says. “You should thank my parents.” She pauses. It might be nice for her parents to call Jane, get her away from the machines for a moment while Darcy’s not there to make sure things don’t explode.

“I do, every day,” Jane says.

“What? They never said anything.” Darcy says.

“I thank them in my head.”

“Aww, c’mon Jane, that doesn’t count. It’s settled, I’m calling you on christmas and you better answer.” Darcy grins to herself as Jane makes a face at her. They might not be even close to similar, but after everything they’ve experienced together, there’s no way Darcy could be found anywhere else. Her parents are bugging her to get a real job, to settle in one location instead of traveling from New Mexico back to Culver over to England. She’s like a therapist too, what with all of Jane’s melancholy after Thor left the first time. This time, Thor’s around and Darcy almost considers asking Thor to ask Heimdall to transport her to home. It’s a long flight, but she doesn’t think Thor would ever say yes. And also, she’s heard all sorts of terrible stories about Odin.

***

She stares in dismay at the bright red lettering on the digital screen, telling her her overbooked flight was delayed by an hour and a half. If anything called for drinks, this situation did. So she heads for the nearest bar. Overpriced cocktail, here she comes. It’s crowded, but there’s a free seat to either side of a man in military dress. A captain by the look of the rank on the sleeve. Tall and broad shouldered. He glances at her but keeps his bearded face turned down and a little away and so Darcy ignores him for the moment, content to keep reading the book on her kindle.

“What’ll you have?” the bored bar tender says. Darcy smiles brightly, trying at least to not look as miserable as she feels.

“Dark and stormy, please.” She slides her card over. She ignores the hunk next to her staring at her and then looking away, she’s got enough crazy in her life, thank you, with Jane and her actual for reals family. He looks at her again when she says thanks to the bar tender for the drink, which was pretty good, for an overpriced airport drink. He looks at her when she’s accidentally knocked into by the woman on her other side and says “no, no worries.”

He looks at her again when she sighs as her drink being watered down. “OK, dude, what gives?” she finally says looking directly at him. He meets her gaze head on and she squints. He looks familiar. Oddly familiar but she can’t say why.

“Uh, nothing,” he mumbles and Darcy’s lips curve into a smile.

“Oh no, not nothing,” Darcy says. “I _know_ who you are!” The look he gives her is simultaneously full of apprehension, horror and curiosity that she bursts out laughing, even more when he scrunches down and frowns at her because of the looks everyone is pointing in their direction.

“Who am I then?” he asked.

“You’re…” Darcy leans closer. “ _Thor’s_ friend, the manwho woke up 70 years after he went into the ice.”

“Wait-“ he frowns. “How-“

“Darcy Lewis, I was on the video call with Jane when Thor called. I saw you and you talked to Jane briefly. It’s Steve, right?”

“Yes, m-“

“IF you say ma’am, I will smite you with my lightning,” Darcy interrupts.

“Fair enough. But how did you get it past security?” Steve asks.

“Oh, it wouldn’t be now,” Darcy says as she asks herself if she’s really having a conversation with _Captain America_ , this is her life now. “I’d track you down and taze you when you least expect it.” She smiles. “I tazed Thor, I can do it to you.”

“Did you really?” Steve looks really interested now, a small smile quirks his lips.

“Yep. Jane hit him with our van and he was stumbling around like a lush screaming about muumuu and so I tazed him.” Darcy shrugs.

“And it took him out?”

“Well, he _was_ depowered at the time.” Darcy shrugs and pops some of the bar peanuts into her mouth.

“I’d give a lotta money to see Thor powerless,” Steve said with a grin. Darcy shrugs.

“How come you’re not drinking?” She asks.

Steve shrugs. “Can’t get drunk, don’t see the point.”

“So what’re you doing sitting at the bar?” Darcy asks, leaning forward. She can’t help it if she feels the draw. Steve is attractive. He’s got this quirk of his lips.

“I like the energy.”

“Of exhausted, stressed out, bored travelers? Not much energy there.” Darcy says as she takes a sip of her newly refreshed drink. Steve shrugs, a small smile quirking his lips and Darcy studies him, chin propped on her hand. “Where you headed now?”

“Back to New York, but the flight was delayed,” Steve said, rolling his shoulders.

“Yeah, Virgin airlines 5478? Me too!” Darcy said. “But I bet you’ve got first class and everything.” She punches him at his guilty smile and laughs a little.

“Where are you going?”

“My family bribed me with airfare back home, said they hadn’t seen me in three years, that it was come home or be disowned.” Darcy shrugs away his look of concern. “They’re just trolling, but who am I to turn down free airfare right?”

“If you don’t want to see your family, you shouldn’t,” Steve says, a far away look in his eyes and Darcy cringes.

“Oh, no, I do. They’re just… difficult. You know? Like my mom’s always asking when I’m going to bring a boyfriend home and I just don’t have time for that.” Darcy shrugs.

“You’re very pretty?” Steve says. “I’m sure you could-“

“Oh, I’m getting it, but when your boss is making time with the God of Thunder and you’ve got dark elves on your butt, you don’t have time to have a serious relationship.” Darcy grins. “I mean, do _you_ have a girlfriend? Fiancee? No, I thought not,” she says when he shakes his head laughing at her. “So, what brought you to rainy gloomy London?”

“An old friend died, I attended his memorial service,” Steve says.

“Falsworth? I heard about that, I’m sorry.”

“How-“

“I’m not as dumb as I act. And you know, I studied the Commandoes in high school history.” Darcy smiles at Steve and sometimes, she finds it really hard to act cool in the face of all the just plain _weird_ that she runs into. They sit there in silence for a little while, and Darcy can feel the whisky working its way through her system, like a dizzying freedom.

“Are you looking forward to Christmas with your family?” Steve finally asks.

“Not really,” Darcy says with a shrug. Her family’s… entertaining, yes, but hard to please and overbearing. It’s why she’s spent so much time with Jane. “I mean, I love them, don’t get me wrong, but they can be overwhelming, you know? And they just won’t let me off about not having a boyfriend or being engaged.”

“Bucky always tried to get me a girl, before we went overseas,” Steve says with a small smile.

“And when you went overseas?” Darcy asks with a grin. Steve blushes a little and ducks his head, hiding his smile. “Oooh, so that’s how it is!” Darcy crows, laughter peeling out of her, ignoring the looks from around them.

“It wasn’t-“

“I’ll never believe you now, I have my head canon now and you can’t change my mind.” Darcy pokes at him and he knocks his shoulder against hers lightly.

“Well, if that’s the case, what am I to do?” Steve says with a shrug.

“Well now that I’ve told you about my overbearing family, what are you doing for the holidays?”

“Well-“ he fidgets.

“Wait, you’re not spending christmas alone, are you?” Darcy demands, frowning at his expression. “You _are_. Oh that is not ok. You should come with me.”

“No, that’s ok,” Steve says shaking his head. “Look, I’ll be fine, I have a few things I need to do anyways.”

“Oh come on, you could surely use one day off. I swear two max and we’ll get you back to the city.” Darcy says.

“I couldn’t possibly impose, surely you don’t want to host a total stranger?” Steve frowns.

“No, it’ll be great, my parents would _love_ you.” Darcy says. “Trust me, they would be thrilled to have you there. They wouldn’t recognize you.”

“What’s in it for you?” Steve finally says.

“Well,” Darcy draws the wordout. “It’d help if you pretended to be my boyfriend.”

“How does that help you?” Steve says. “I mean, you’d then have to explain how I disappeared.”

Darcy waves her hand. “It’s all a plot to get you in my bed anyways. Besides, boyfriends of years past have disappeared six months later, I’ll just make up stories about you for an appropriate length of time and then say we broke up. No biggie.” Steve’s eyebrows were almost in his hairline. “You’re cute when you don’t believe me, you know that?”

_Now Boarding First Class for Flight 5478 to New York, Laguardia at Gate B115. Now Boarding First Class._

Darcy blinks. “Wow, talk about timing,” she murmurs as she waves the bar tender down to settle her tab. Steve still hasn’t answered her but she doesn’t push him, not yet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home for the holidays!

She pops a sleeping pill as soon as she’s settled in her economy class seat. She wakes up as they’re descending and her neck is stiff and shoots pain when she massages it. As she drags her rolling suitcase out of the jetway, bleary eyed, she finds tall blonde and handsome waiting for her. “You change your mind?” Darcy asks.

“I was going to walk you to the train,” Steve says with a shrug, duffel tossed over his shoulder.

“Well, then you might as well come with me to grand central and catch the commuter out with me. Trust me, my parents will love having an additional person around.”

“You’re not going to let up on this, are you?”

“Nope. It’s why Jane loves me so much.” Darcy grins up at him. “I’m pretty sure I annoy Thor though. In a little sister way. Come on, you’ll love them, it’ll be great.” She doesn’t mention the lack of extra beds. Mmm, man flesh right next to her. He walks next to her quietlydown to the subway and the long ride and change it takes to get to Grand Central. Occasionally, he gets this funny look on his face and she wonders just how much he’s picked up in this current century. So she starts making a note of the things that cause him to pause a little. It’s none of the big stuff, which makes sense, but the material of the seats on the train gives him pause and the talking to a small white cord makes him blink.

The commuter train out to Peekskill went smoothly and Steve seems to still stick around. “You don’t have to be my boyfriend for the weekend, by the way, it’s totally fine. Really. They’ll just think we’re shacking up without y’know, being _serious_.” She waggles her brows and Steve hides a smile, she can see it as he turns his face away.

“It’s ok, I don’t mind,” Steve finally says.

“Great! How did we meet?”

“Through Jane. Do your parents know about Thor?” Steve asks.

“Well, they know he exists like everyone does, but no, not that I know him.” Darcy says. “All those NDAs put a crimp in my style.”

“Are they going to recognize me?” He asks.

“Nah, they’ll never believe you’re actually _you_.” Darcy grins. “Trust me, I talk like I know Thor all the time and they don’t believe me. It’s all in the way you _say_ it.”

“Ah, yes, that,” Steve says.

“You’re a natural, see!” Darcy leans into him and he doesn’t move away so she just… stays. He shifts a little, puts his arm around her. “And good at the fake boyfriend moves too.” She knows this weekend will be a little nuts, she’s been gone for ages at this point, her parents questioning her every decision, thinking that she was nuts for following a scientist to London. And they were _right_ , in a way. She’d never wanted to be a scientist, just needed to fill those credits. And she’d found herself in the middle of a maelstrom. A handsome muscle-y one. And after that, Jane had worked like a fiend, trying to find a way to access the bridge. And well, no need to relive everything, she reminded herself. No, she needed to concentrate on the different muscle-y arm around her. This was going to gob smack her family, especially her cousin Bridget, the _perfect_ one.

Well, she was hand in hand with Captain America and she’d successfully made him laugh. She thought they were well on their way to friends and he was turning out to be surprisingly amiable to her schemes, where Thor or Jane would have laughed in her face. _Now Approaching: Peekskill_. The robot voice interrupts her reverie and she pulls her bag to her and stands, letting Steve get himself situated and then they hurry off the train. No one’s waiting for them, but she hadn’t expected that, she’d never told them what train she expected to be on.

“Where’s your family?” Steve frowns. He places a hand on her lower back, not guiding but gently reassuring.

“Oh, they didn’t know when I was getting in, so we’ll catch a cab over. It’s not too far from here.” She ignores the constipated look he gets on his face, instead imagining him shirtless, at which she smirks. She might just do that all weekend. Every time someone tells her she could be doing so much more with her life, she just imagines Steve de-robed in some way.

The cab ride over ends up being quick and easy, although the cab driver is inclined to speaking far too often, but Steve seems like he enjoys the conversation and so she stares out the window instead.

“Uh, Darcy?” Steve breaks her reverie by touching her elbow.

“Right. Time to pay the nice driver and get out of the cab, sorry,” She says as she tears her gaze away from the standard eggshell colored split level in front of her.

“I already paid him. Are you sure…?”

“Yes!” Darcy says. With a deep breath, she shoves her way out of the cab, pulls her suitcase from the trunk and waves goodbye to the driver as he abandons her to her family. She almost runs after him. She looks up at Steve, quiet for once and he just looks back at her, steady in all the ways she feels she isn’t. Steeling herself, she marches up the path and knocks on the door. It swings wide open a minute later to reveal her elegantly coiffed mother.

“Darcy!” Her mother nearly yells, elongating the y at the end. “We’ve been waiting for- ooh and who are you?”

“My name’s Steve, Ma’am,” He says, placing a hand on Darcy’s low back.

“Oh don’t go calling me ma’am. Just Liz will be fine,” her mom flutters.

“Mo-om” Darcy rolls her eyes. “Move aside so we can get in, alright?” She hugs her mom and maneuvers her so Steve can get past them and they can close the door.

“Darcy!” her dad bellows from the doorway to the living room. “Thought you’d never get here. Your mom was convinced the plane had crashed.”

“Well, it didn’t!” Darcy said with a grin. “Just delayed as usual.”

“Well, who is this?” He asks.

“This is Steve, Steve, this is Dan, my dad,” Darcy says with a smile up at him. “We’re uh-“ She hesitates and Steve looks all constipated.

“We’re engaged!” Steve blurts and Darcy’s eyes go round before nodding frantically.

“Yes, yes of course, we’re engaged.” She agrees, leaning heavily into him. This was not quite what she’d bargained for.

There’s a shriek and then her arms are full of mother and she pats her mother’s shoulders cautiously, trying not to mess up her mother’s hair. She squints at Steve and he just… shrugs, looking awkward as all fuck and she sighs. She’s already forgiven him this.

“Well, this is just the best kind of surprise,” Her father says as he pulls her mother away. “We’re just surprised, we hadn’t heard a word about a boyfriend, much less a fiance.”

“Well, I, uh, wanted to surprise you both?” Darcy says. “It felt weird calling from London to announce it.”

“Darcy!” the male voice comes from the living room. “I heard shrieking and assumed it was mom. What’d you do this time?” She pokes her head around her dad to see her older brother, exhausted looking as usual but with a sly grin on his face.

“Well, I’m getting married,” she says, trying to sound as nonchalant and not gobsmacked as possible.

“Hey man, I’m Jake,” her brother holds his hand out to Steve.

“Steve, nice to meet you,” Steve says. They grip hands and her brother must be trying to intimidate steve judging by the way Steve’s mouth quirks and it takes all of Darcy’s strength to not laugh.

“Ok, knock off the male posturing already, Jake.” She pushes between them. “I smell hot cider and I demand a sample.” Jake follows her back to the kitchen and he’s still massaging his hand when they get to the kitchen.

“Who is that?” Jake asks. “You’ve never mentioned a _fiance_ before. Wouldn’t you tell your older brother that you were seeing someone?”

“You? The family gossip, get real,” Darcy laughs as she swoops back around him, mug of spiced hot cider firmly in hand. Back to find Steve with a neutral expression on his face. Oh. Well. He’s standing by her dad, her mom nowhere in sight, probably with Madison. “Dad, stop haranguing my fiancé, please. He’s very nice, he does consultant work with international organizations and he has a great sense of humor.” She links arms with Steve and smiles pleasantly at her dad.

When they finally manage to drag their stuff up to her childhood room, her heart shudders for a moment. She’d forgotten how small her bed was.

“I’ll, uh, sleep on the floor?” Steve offers quietly once the door is shut.

“No, you’re the guest, you should get the bed. A night on the floor won’t kill me,” Darcy said with a grin. “Hell, it’s happened more than once. Night terrors, you know?” Steve nods a little at the last, and she’s glad he’s not pushing.

“Well, still. I think you should take your own bed,” Steve insists. Darcy shrugs and starts pulling things out of her suitcase. She heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth and change, hoping that Steve gets the hint to change while she’s gone. She comes back after giving him ample time to change to discover him stretched out on the floor, fast asleep. He’s stolen one of her pillows and an extra blanket, but otherwise, her bed’s untouched. She rolls her eyes and crawls into bed. No use sleeping on the floor to spite him, after all.

***

She wakes to hearing her mother call her name. Steve is sitting on the floor, back to the wall, reading a book. She gestures at him and he looks at her funny. “It’s not funny, she’s going to burst in here, will you please at least sit next to me?” She hisses. “We’ll blow our cover! Be a secret agent for once, Captain Obvious.” He smirks a little at that but gets up and settles by her, feet on the top of her tangled bed spread, back against the wall.

“This good enough?” he whispers as her mother knocks on her door.

“Darcy? Are you decent? We’re having waffles with strawberries for breakfast.”

“Yes mom!” She calls. Her mom opens the door anyways and looks almost disappointed to see Steve sitting on the bed in a t-shirt and boxers. She wasn’t to know of the six pack abs under that shirt. Those were for some other lucky woman.

“Do you think you’ll come down?”

“Sure, but you should know, Steve might eat us out of the house.” She jabs him with her elbow and he jolts in surprise. It takes all her will not to stare at him.

“I”m sorry, Ma’am, but it’s kind of true,” Steve says. “My metabolism is very fast and my employment requires a very high amount of energy.”

“Well, I’m sure we’ll figure something out, as long as everyone at least gets to try the waffles,” her mom says with a smile.

“Ok, thank you,” Darcy says through gritted teeth, the signal for her mom to remember that she needs to stop impinging on her daughter’s space. Her mom waves and closes the door. “Well. She was quite disappointed that she didn’t get a look at your abs,” Darcy says looking at Steve through her lashes. She feels that quiver of attraction in her belly as she sees the way his cheeks have pinked up and his eyes wide and blue.

“I’m guessing you wouldn’t be surprised by how often I’ve heard that, right?” Steve says, smile passing across his lips and that startles a giggle out of Darcy.

“Let me guess, only five hundred times.”

“About that,” he admits and while she knows he’s joking, (where would he have interacted with enough people to have heard it that many times?) it still makes her wonder what else he’s heard. They manage to brush their teeth and change with a minimum of awkwardness (Steve might have seen some side boob once, but neither of them would admit to it if asked) and head downstairs.

“Aw, there are the sleepy lovebirds!” Her dad cries out from where he’s manning the waffle maker.

“Da-ad,” Darcy says. “Why do you have to be so.. So… over the top?” He’s donethis with the last boyfriend she brought home, acting overly jovial and overly friendly.

“Increasing your vocabulary, I see. Good for you, Steve, teaching my girl a wider range of words,” Her dad says, kissing her temple affectionately.

“That was all Doctor Foster, sir,” Steve says.

“Hey! Jane barely knows english unless it relates to science. I was the liberal arts major here, I’ll have you know.” Darcy defends herself.

“Well, it sure didn’t teach you to use the synonyms for embarrassing like you just did,” her dad says. “And all that money to Culver too.” Darcy rolls her eyes and steals a pinch of freshly done waffle before he can put it in the oven to warm.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Steve asks.

“Whip the cream!” her mom says. “Surely those muscles can be put to use for something not related to your job.” Her mom thrusts a bowl of cream and a whisk into Steve’s hands who happily puts himself and his super strength to work. Darcy goes to the living room where her brother is playing with Madison. She can hear Madison’s affected english accent demanding that they play with the tonic trucks. Now that she’s spent a while in england, it’s even funnier than it was before.

“Don’t you want to play with the barbie dream house?” she can hear Jake saying.

“Aw c’mon, Jake, I never took you for a gender conformity police person,” Darcy says as she plops down next to Madison. “Madison, you play with the tonka truck all you want.”

“You are such a jerk,” Madison says and Darcy rolls her eyes.

“I love you too, Maddie.” She reaches over and ruffles madison’s hair and nearly laughs at how Madison jerks away.

“So, how is everything?” She asks Jake. She knows the divorce is close to final and the process was long and drawn out; they’d separated last december.

“It’s ok,” Jake says. “Not much contact, but…” He doesn’t say anymore, eyes flicking to Madison and Darcy understands. Now isn’t the time, but it seems like Madison is doing ok. Right now at least.

It isn’t long before they’re pulled back in for waffles and Darcy is seated next to Steve. Of course. She hadn’t factored in the close quarters and her own betraying feelings in asking him to Christmas. But you couldn’t just leave a national hero in the lurch. Even if almost no one knew he didn’t have a family to go home to.

“Hey Madison, do you want to go sledding?” Dad asked and Darcy suppressed a sigh when Madison shrieked her agreement. Holiday tradition, or not, she still didn’t like it.

***

It turned out that Steve loved sledding, which Darcy learned as they arrived at the local ski resort that had a sledding hill. They used to go to a closer hill, but then it stopped snowing as much before christmas. Thanks, climate change. He dragged the biggest sled up the hill and slid down on it. And then he got Madison to come up with him and she toppled them over accidentally because Steve wasn’t paying attention and that was pure _gold_. She’d gotten it on her phone and she just knew she could use it as blackmail.

“So, you going to come sledding?” Steve asks and she looks up from her phone.

“Nope, I come in protest every year.” Steve shrugs and leaves and Darcy goes back to subtly recording him. She needs something heart warming and funny to watch during those boring hours waiting for experiments to finish. Her mom and dad are screaming in laughter as they slide down on their inner tubes and Jake is probably having a drink at the resort’s bar, his daughter well in hand. She doesn’t blame him, not when his soon to be ex wife absconded with her best friend and left him with sole custody of Madison. Madison’s doing well and it’s mostly amicable, but, well, Darcy’s allowed to be biased in her brother’s favor.

Her feet leave the ground and her stomach is suddenly squished into ahard shoulder, her phone clutched precariously in her fingers. “What?” She yells and then realizes it’s Steve. “Oh come on!” She beats on his back a little, but it doesn’t do much, not with the back muscles of steel. “Let me down!”

“You didn’t see me coming, you deserve this” comes Steve’s answer, which sounds weird when her head is upside down behind him.

“Oh come on, you’re the big guns, not stealth.” Darcy says as he sets her down right into a sled. “What, no, Steve!” She yells and then he plops Madison in front of her, sits down beside her and nestles in right behind her, legs squishing hers and she freezes before melting back a little. Even if it does soak her jacket with all of the snow that caught on his jacket. He hands her the rope and she sees it attaches to the tubes that her parents are in and then they’re sailing down the slope. She shrieks, the air freezing as it rushes past her face and then she turns, and the sled catches and they go tumbling out, the rope to her parents’ tubes ripping out of her hand. She lands face first into the snow, Steve a heavy weight on top of her, Madison a few feet away, spitting snow out of her mouth, biggest smile on her face since Darcy had come home the night before.

“Get off, you big weight!” Darcy yells and Steve scrambles off of her. When she gets up, she sees the look in his eye. “Oh _Steve_ ,” She murmurs and he blinks, the look fading. “What did you think was happening?” He shakes his head and stomps down the hill. She stares after him, fingers going cold and heart pounding, stomach tight with nerves.

“Darcy?” Madison is standing there, eyes wide, dripping melted snow off her pink cheeks and chin.

“Oh, honey,” Darcy takes Madison’s hand and the sled in the other.

“Why did Steve go away?” The girl asks as they slip and slide their way down the rest of the hill, sled sliding in front of them.

“He remembered something bad and needed to go to a time out so he didn’t hurt anyone,” Darcy says, unsure how much Madison might get about PTSD in its technicalities.

“Oh. Like when I have a nightmare, only when awake?” Madison asks and Darcy affirms that.

Handing Madison off to her parents she follows Steve’s path into the resort and finds him standing at a window. “I thought for sure I’d find you right next to Jake at the bar.”

“The high metabolism burns through alcohol too fast,” Steve says.

“Want to talk about it?” Darcy asks. When she gets no response, she shrugs and settles herself down in a nearby chair.

After a minute, Steve drops down next to her. “Why are you here?”

“You’re my so-called fiancee, it’d look very strange if I wasn’t,” Darcy points out, not even looking up from her phone. Steve says nothing and she still doesn’t look up. It’s not her problem.

“I sometimes remember things, strongly, you know?” Steve says after a moment.

“Yeah, I remember when the dark elves came to London like that,” Darcy says, looking up. “Movement out of the side of my eye, something _weird_ happening, I just freeze up for a second.”

“That’s about the gist of it,” Steve says and Darcy stands.

“Well, are you ready to go back to the house?” he nods and they make their way back. It’s not a hard job to convince Jake it’s time to go and they leave Madison with the parents and Darcy drives home.

****

It’s Christmas Eve and her parents have prepared a wonderful feast as has always been tradition. Steve eats half of it and Darcy can’t help but stifle giggles at her parents awed expressions.

“You weren’t kidding when you said you had a fast metabolism. How did you even fit all of that in your stomach?” Jake asks. Darcy snorts a laugh and Steve shoots her a baleful look.

“It is unusually fast. If I ate too much I can-“

“Nope!” Darcy interrupts. “Usually there are leftovers, but we’ll just get takeout tomorrow night, like I’ve always dreamed of.”

“She has,” Her dad confirms with a grin. “Been pestering us for _years_ to just do take out on Christmas.” Darcy shrugs at Steve’s dubious expression turned on her and finishes her plate.

“It’s lucky for you that I made three pies, I think we’ll just give you one,” Darcy’s mom says. Steve opens his mouth to argue but Darcy stomps on his foot and the look he gives her makes her pause. Almost. It turns out, despite the volume of food he ate, Steve still had room for the whole pie.

When they get back up to her room, he sits on the edge of the bed and fiddles with his phone. “So.” Darcy says, sitting next to him. “I think my parents are half in love with you.”

Steve smirks a little at that. “I’ve always been good at that.”

“You player!” Darcy squeals, punching him in the arm. “You’ve been holding out on me.” At his blank look she reached up and patted his face, squishing down the wistful part of her that wanted to kiss him. “You’re a lady charmer, aren’t you?”

“Uh-“ He scratches the back of his head, expression sheepish, a little smile crossing his face. “No, just that Buck’s ma let me stay with them. Bucky always complained that his ma loved me more than him. It wasn’t true, but I’ve always had that luck.” He shrugs and Darcy pats his shoulder. She can’t imagine how hard the past is to talk about.

“You want the bed tonight?” Darcy asks, standing and going for her sleeping clothes

“I’m alright,” Steve says quietly and Darcy turns back to face him.

“Oh come on, stop being the gentleman and just take the bed,” Darcy says.

“No.”

“Fine. I’ll sleep on the floor with you.”

“Sure you will,” Steve says, raising his eyebrows and Darcy nearly giggles and instead goes to change and brush her teeth. She runs into Jake in the hallway on her way back and he raises his eyebrows at her bundle of clothing.

“Dude, Steve’s old fashioned, I didn’t feel like making him blush,” Darcy excuses the clothes.

“Uh huh,” He says and Darcy rolls her eyes.

“It’s true!” She protests. “He was brought up with very modest values.”

“So you guys do it in the dark only?” Jake smirks and Darcy punches him with her free hand. She brushes past him into her room as he yelps in pain and closes the door in his face, to find Steve stretched out on the floor again, fast asleep. She rolls her eyes, pulls a pillow and an extra blanket off the bed and curls up near him.

***

She wakes in the morning to an arm across her side, legs tangled. It’s warm, almost comfortable except for the firmness of the floor, far harder than her cozy bed. And then her door slams open. “It’s CHRISTMAS!” Madison shrieks. She comes running into the room and Darcy looks at her, eyes half closed. Madison frowns. “Why are you on the floor?”

“Steve’s too tall, it was easier down here.”

“Oh.” Madison frowned and then ran out of the room, leaving the door wide open.

“What-“ Steve mumbles.

“I told you,” Darcy says, going for shit eating grin but only pulling him a small smile. “If you didn’t take the bed, I wouldn’t either.”

“And this-?” Steve asks sleepily, not moving away, his hand warm on her side as she looks at his blue eyes and sleep flushed cheeks.

“All you, I was a few feet away from you,” Darcy says with a shrug. “Your pillow’s still over there.” She gestured and he rolled to see it, which Darcy took to be her opportunity to get up.

“Huh,” he says, sitting up slowly, actions slow. He surveys the room and his eyes sweep up Darcy’s form and she nearly blushes but tries to stifle it quickly.

“Are you ok?” She asks, not used to seeing him so lethargic.

“Tired,” Steve says. “Like I’ve slept for a week.” Her eyebrows raise in alarm and he hurries to add “But in a good way. Best sleep I’ve had in a while.” Darcy.

“Well, you better get with it soon,” Darcy says, ignoring the lingering heat of arousal. “We tear open presents in 15.”

“I don’t want to be an imposition,” Steve says.

“Nonsense, I’ll share my haul with you. 50/50?”

“I don’t want to take your presents though,” Steve says.

“Dude. Stop fighting.” Darcy says. “It’s pretty much a done deal that you’ll get some of my stuff whether you want it or not. I’m sneaky.”

“Are you now?” Steve says with a slight smile. “You sure you can get something past me?”

“Oh, a challenge!” Darcy says, poking him in the chest. “I like those. Come on. You’re dressed, mom’ll be yelling up at us in a minute if we don’t come down.

Presents takes about ten minutes, but it’s her traditional ten minutes. She loves the face Steve makes when she hands him a small wrapped gift, of the old timey photograph of President Roosevelt. She doesn’t tell him she’d inherited from her grandmother and promptly stuffed it in her closet fifteen years ago. Now, she thinks, it was meant to be given to her so she could give it to Steve this morning.

“Now, we are so glad to have you here, Steve,” Liz says and Darcy swallows. Being as they’re fake-engaged, she wonders if this might happen.

“Thank you,” Steve says, sliding his eyes towards her and she shrugs.

“We noticed that she’s not wearing a ring yet and we wanted to give this to you,” Liz holds out the small box, confirming Darcy’s fear. Steve takes the box, nearly dropping it, causing Darcy to snort into her hand. Jake hits her and she shakes her head, unwilling to explain why Steve being a klutz is funny. She sees the glint of the diamond and sapphire combination ring and sighs.

“Mom, we can get a ring on our own,” Darcy says. Steve is still staring at the ring and she’s starting to wonder what’s going on in his head.

“But your grandmother would have loved for you to have it, dear,” Dan says and she sighs. Her mom looks stricken, her dad actually looks concerned and there’s no way she’s getting out of this.

“OK,” Darcy says.

“Try it on!” Madison shrieks and really, no way of getting out of it now. Steve picks up the ring carefully, funny look still on his face and extends his hand to hers, sliding the cold metal over her ring finger. She stares at it and then stares at him.

“Aw, kiss!” Jake says, pushing her and she falls forward, Steve catching her. It feels way too much like a romantic comedy trope, but Steve’s eyes are wide and uncertain. She leans up and pecks him on the cheek.

“Does that satisfy your voyeurism, brother dearest?” She asks, scowling at Jake.

“Never,” Jake says, cheerily.

***

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay an extra day?” Liz asks. They’ve already packed their bags into her dad’s car and Darcy sighs.

“Mom, I’ve got a flight to catch and Steve has to get back to his work, he’s needed at the drop of a hat.”

“I know, sweetie, I just wish we got to spend more time with you.” Her mom pulls her into a hug and then surprises Steve by pulling him into a hug too, which he returns, although his hands are very light. She nearly laughs. “It was just a delight to meet you, Steve. I’m so glad the two of you found each other.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He nods and then edges out the door. “Bye Mom!” She waves and chases after Steve. The car ride is quiet and Darcy fiddles with her phone the entire time as Steve makes small talk with her dad.

Her dad gives her a quick hug and a quiet “Love you, Darcy” before shaking Steve’s hand firmly and letting them get on the platform for the train before leaving.

“So.” Darcy says, bringing her hand up and taking the glove off to reveal the ring. “You still have the ring box?”

“Yeah, right here, look I’m so sorry about that,” Steve says as he hands her the ring box. She puts the antique ring into the box and carefully stows it in her secret compartment of her purse.

“Why? It’s my parents, not yours that decided to gift an antique ring to us,” Darcy says.

“But I was the one who-“

“Whoa, lets stop the blame game right there, I don’t do that,” Darcy says, poking him in the chest. “It is what it is and when I gradually break the news to my parents that we are not, in fact, engaged, I will be sure to return the ring.”

“But-“

“No blame game!” Darcy garners stares from nearby people for that and she smiles and waves.

“Fine.” Steve says. He looks like he wants to say more but doesn’t know what, so Darcy lets it settle into silence, trying to ignore that in a couple hours she’ll be at the airport and Steve will be back to his regular life. It’s going to hurt, not seeing him every day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This top ring is the ring i found when looking for an idea: http://www.trumpetandhorn.com/vintage-sapphire-engagement-rings  
> This turned into a 3-part story, but the last one is short and cute resolution. Hopefully coming soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A follow up and happy ending to Love the Lewises (Lewis's?).

Darcy Lewis is not a fighter. She can protect herself and after Thor, she took a couple self defense classes and enrolled in judo, but she doesn’t volunteer in fights. It’s not who she is. And she still finds herself somehow in the middle of super-powered battles. Puente Antiguo, London. And now, in a grand finale (she hopes), New York. She ducks behind an electric box to catch a breath only to have a piece of concrete sail over her head and slam into the wall of the building. She doesn’t have her taser with her, not that it would work well against giant slug bots. Which… She peeks over the electric box and sees the hulk down the block. He roars in triumph as he smashes the slug bots against each other and hey shatter but the pieces drip down caught in their own slime. She looks closer to her and sees a mother and child completely out in the open. There’s a subway entrance near them and they’re only a few car lengths away. The slug bots haven’t noticed them yet, for which Darcy thanks Thor. She takes a deep breath and sets off sprinting, trying to stay low to the ground and avoid the damn bots. She ends up using a brick to throw into one which at least makes it pause long enough that she gets to the mother and child. Who are still wide eyed and terrified.

“Come on!” She yells, taking the young girl out of the mom’s arms who protests. “We have to get into the subway, it’s safer down there.”

She runs, holding the sobbing four year old and the mother clutching her elbow down the steps and into the lobby area of the subway. She gets them all behind the entrance gate and thank god there’s debris that fell down the stairs. She stacks some of the cement pieces and bricks next to her and has the mom, who is muttering her thanks between soothing her daughter, hide behind the fare booth. “Look,” Darcy starts. “I’m not.. I’m not an avenger or anything, but I saw the hulk out there. We’re gonna be fine.”

“Thank you.. What’s your name?” The woman looks at her, eyes finally focusing.

“I’m Darcy Lewis. What’s yours?” Darcy sidles closer to the woman. The block had been fairly empty and most of the people had scattered into the buildings in time. There were only a few other people milling nearby and Darcy ignores them.

“Rebecca Lena.” The woman shakes her hand, smiling shakily.

The little girl sniffs. “I’m Maille” Darcy squats down to her level.

“Hi Maille. I have a niece just about your age. She really loves playing dress up. What do you like?”

“I like when Mommy reads to me,” Maille said, her voice a whisper as she barely met Darcy’s eyes. There was a bang from above and Maille whimpered, Rebecca tightening her grip. Darcy barely flinches, but the noise had been far too close to the subway entrance for comfort. She ends up telling a story about when Jane fell asleep in front of the machine and it nearly started a rainbow bridge. Complete with concerned Thor visiting. “Thor lectured Jane for probably half an hour before..” Darcy frowns, wondering what to say since carrying off Jane to have sex wasn’t appropriate to tell a four year old.

“Hello?” The male voice echoed down the steps and it sounded suspiciously familiar. She pushed herself up and poked her head around the fare booth.

“St- Captain America!” Darcy grins wide at him and he falters briefly. She waves Maille and Rebecca forward. “Maille, it’s Captain America, I bet you can get an autograph.”

Steve’s standing in front of her, face intense. She makes a face at him and as soon as the four year old is in front of him, he crouches down.

“Are you really Captain America?” Maille asks, fist clenched in her skirt.

“I am. What’s your name?” Steve smiles a littleand holds his shield in front of him.

“I’m Maille,” she says quietly. Darcy glances at Rebecca who is staring at Steve with wide eyes.

“Hello Maille, it’s very nice to meet you. He looks up at her, eyes dancing and Darcy ignores the way her belly tightens in response.

“This is Rebecca, Maille’s mom,”She puts her hand on Rebecca’s shoulder who shakes Steve’s hand.

“Captain ‘Merica?” Maille’s voice breaks through the moment. “Can you sign?” She’s holding a crumpled napkin out.

“Sure,” Steve bends down again and signs carefully. “Now, everything’s under control, where were the two of you going?”

“To see Alvin!” Maille shrieks.

“Sorry, we were going to see Alvin and the Chipmunks at the theater nearby.” Rebecca pulls her daughter in tight next to her.

“Well, I don’t think it’ll be showing at this point, it should be safe for you to go home.”

“Will you be ok, Darcy?” Rebecca asked.

“Yep. Maille, take care of your mom, ok?” The little girl nods and the mom tentatively leads them out of the subway station. Steve and Darcy follow at a slower rate.

“What-“

“So-“ Darcy starts at the same time before gesturing to him to start, her cheeks warming slightly.

“What are you doing here?” Steve says and his voice and his eyes look the same, but it is discordant still to look at him and see the spangly suit.

“Jane came to New York, so I followed her.” Darcy says. She wonders, now, why she hadn’t seen Steve. They’d been at Stark tower a _lot_ recently. She’d been keeping an eye out for him too. “Where have you been?”

“Around,” Steve says, voice awkward and Darcy just looks at him.

“Seriously, I’m pretty sure I have the clearance. I was at Thor’s arrival.” She pulls Steve out of the way of a running group of national guard.

“Uh, I’ve been _looking_. You saw the DC fight?”

“Mm, yeah, happened right after Thor visited us in London. Scary looking dude with a metal arm knocked you out of the burning flying… thing.”

“That.. That was Bucky.”

“What?” Darcy says, she feels her eyes widening. “You didn’t tell me he was still alive.” She punches his arm and shakes her hand afterwards. “Ok, never doing that again,” she mumbles. Steve’s lips quirk. By this point they’re at a quinjet where Natasha and Clint are waiting for them.

“Darcy?” Clint says, frowning at her. “What were you doing down here?”

“Felt like window shopping, guess I have terrible timing,” Darcy says.

“Found her watching over a mom and her kid in the subway,” Steve says climbing in after Darcy.

“How do you two know each other?” Natasha asks, face clear but Darcy knows that look and it sets her into a coughing fit. Steve’s pulled his cowl off and his cheeks are slightly pink.

“I invited him home for Christmas?” Darcy said. Clint whistles and Natasha would be staring intently at Steve if she weren’t flying, Darcy can tell.

“Thanks, by the way,” Steve says with a grin. “Best Christmas I’ve had in 70 years.”

“Of course it was,” Darcy said. “You _hadn’t had any_ ,”

“I totally had a christmas last year!” Steve protests and Darcy snorts. They come to a landing on Stark Towers landing pad and Darcy follows the other three out. Thor lands momentarily after they do and barely looks surprised to see her and just hugs her before rumbling that he was going to look for his Jane.

“I bet you enjoyed one day off from being a superhero. You didn’t actually give or receive presents. And no, Tony Stark’s don’t count.” Darcy intercedes and Steve shrugs.

As Natasha and Clint disappear down the hallway, Darcy pauses. “How are you?” She asks quietly. Steve looks down at her.

“I’m ok. Been traveling a lot because of-“

“I get it.” Darcy says, patting his arm. “You gotta find him.” He smiles at her. “You know, my parents won’t stop asking about you. I’ve made up some probably not-that-outrageous lies about it.”

“You tell them we broke up yet?” Steve asks. She can’t figure out what his expression means but shrugs it off.

“No, it wouldn’t make sense, with the whole fake-engaged thing to be broken up this quickly.” Darcy says.

“Good.” Steve says and he’s standing there, like he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“Steve?” Darcy asks, moving slightly closer.

“I’ve- I’ve missed our whatever it was.” Darcy’s eyebrows raise and she feels her cheeks heat up.

“Me too,” She says. And before she can say anything else, Steve’s snagged her wrist and dragged her flush against him, hand in her hair and he kisses her. It’s awkward, nose bumping and teeth but she wouldn’t trade it for anything. When they break off, she stares wide eyed. “Ok.”

“Want to try the relationship out for real?” Steve asks with a grin.

“Fuck yes,” Darcy says. “Now Jane won’t be able to flaunt Thor in front of me all the time.” Steve throws his head back and laughs and slings an arm around her shoulders. She ignores the dirt that’s getting all over her clothes and snuggles into his side. It feels right.


End file.
